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Klasky-Csupo
Background: In 1981, Klasky-Csupo (pronounced "CLASS-key CHEW-po") was formed in a bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, California. The name of the company derives from the last names of the two producers Arlene Klasky and Hungarian-born animator Gábor Csupó. During The Tracey Ullman Show (1987-1990) days, Klasky-Csupo produced the animated Simpsons shorts, consisting of 48, before The Simpsons became a full-time network series in 1989. After those initial skits, Klasky-Csupo worked with 20th Century Fox Television and Matt Groening to produce the first 3 seasons of the animated sitcom until 1992, when Film Roman took over production. In 1990, the duo cut a production deal with Nickelodeon, and there they made the cable network's most successful animated series, Rugrats (August 11, 1991-June 8, 2004). After that, Klasky-Csupo made other successful animated shows such as The Wild Thornberrys (September 1, 1998-March 11, 2004), AAAHH!!! Real Monsters (October 29, 1994-November 16, 1997), Rocket Power (August 16, 1999-August 2, 2004), As Told By Ginger (October 25, 2000-November 14, 2006), All Grown Up (April 12, 2003-August 17, 2008), Duckman (for USA Network and Paramount Television), and The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald (a promoted cartoon available exclusively at McDonald's restaurants from 1998 to early 2001). The company currently produces Spy vs. Spy cartoons for Cartoon Network's MAD (a resurrection of MADtv). 1st Logo September 15, 1989-December 19, 1998, October 20, 2002-March 1, 2003) Nicknames: "The (Dancing) Graffiti", "Scribbles", "The Personification of All That is Cheesy", "Weird Stuff", "Weird Klasky-Csupo" Logo: On a white BG with shapes that change frequently, we see squares sliding to the left. One has cubic shapes forming a "K", a shoe forming an "L", an orange fuzzy shape forming a lowercase "a", a lizard turning into an "S", a bull turning into another "K", and an acrobat jumping and turning into a "Y", all of which occur at a very fast pace. The next five squares have a scribble writing the stenciled "CSUPO" on them (in Helvetica). After this, we zoom out so the boxes are arranged with "KLaSKY" on top of "CSUPO". "INC." appears next to "CSUPO", letter by letter. The logo turns black and white while the "Y" turns purple a second later. Variants: A still version of the logo (with graffiti still dancing and the logo already black and white with "Y" purple) was spotted on Stressed Eric. An abridged version with higher pitched music was used on Duckman. An in-credit variation was on Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day on HBO Storybook Musicals. A version exists on the first two seasons of AAAHH!!! Real Monsters where the logo fades out early and the music trails off into the Nickelodeon "Scribble" logo. A still version with no graffiti in the background along with more clear lettering was spotted on the video game Rugrats in Paris: The Movie for PSX. FX/SFX: The objects forming the letters in the logo. Cheesy Factor: The animation is bad, some of the letter animations are choppy, so many random sound effects that you don't hear on other 90s closing logos, and the graffiti is bad. Also, why does the logo turn black & white anyway? Music/Sounds: While the letters scroll, we hear a lot of random sound effects due to the various activities going on in the logo. It culminates with a dog barking and 15 descending bass notes, and it ends with some weird synthesized sounds. In early years, there were extra SFX playing, such as a scribbling sound when "CSUPO" is formed. In exceptional cases, it used only the closing theme on some shows, like Stressed Eric and the Rugrats episode "I Remember Meville/No More Cookies". On "Bird in the Window", the logo is silent. Availability: Uncommon. Currently seen on Rugrats episodes from the era on The '90s Are All That on TeenNick, DVD, and VHS, including episodes from season eight and excluding Preschool Daze when it was used as a placeholder between the next logo and the final logo (however, current prints of season eight episodes use the 2nd logo). Preserved on DVDs of Duckman, DVDs and VHS tapes of Santo Bugito, and VHS tapes, DVDs (via Amazon.com) and digital downloads of AAAHH!!! Real Monsters. The in-credit variant appears on reruns of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day on HBO Family, which was actually where this logo premiered (although it was first seen when HBO aired it). Also seen on early episodes of The Wild Thornberrys. Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant: Medium. The cut from the credits to the logo is jarring, and the random sound effects may catch you off guard, but it's an OK logo otherwise. Low with the end of the show's theme playing. None for the in-credit and still variants. Nevertheless, this logo is a favorite of many. But of course, this is nothing compared to the follow-up... 2nd Logo (October 8, 1998-October 20, 2008, July 13, 2012, November 30, 2012) Nicknames: "The Face", "Super Scary Face", "(The) SSF", "Robot", "Splatt", "Disjointed Facial Features" Logo: Over a static purple background, a blob of black ink emerges from the center, soon followed by blue ink. A hand passes by and drops magazine clippings of eyes and a mouth onto the blob. The mouth says the company name as white blocks fly out from the mouth. The blocks arrange themselves to form the K-C logo (like before, but refined to match the print logo). After that, two black blocks quickly slide from the top and bottom of the screen (covering up both the background and the face, but not the K-C blocks), and that also turns the "Y" in "KLaSKY" purple. This logo comes in two versions: a widescreen 16:9 version (for movies) and a fullscreen 4:3 version. Trivia: Strangely, this logo appeared on early airings of the SpongeBob episode "Wet Painters/Krusty Krab Training Video". It was an editing mistake made by Nickelodeon when they first started doing the split-screen credits. (How? Well, normally, Nick makes custom split-screen credits for each toon and it's producers. K-C was the only one that produced multiple Nicktoons, and Nick created a generic one for these shows mentioned Klasky and Csupo as producers and included the face. But on the said episode of SpongeBob, Nick flubbed and used the K-C split screen credits for that episode, and that's why the SSF was used.) As of 2006, the logo is plastered by the United Plankton Pictures logo on repeat airings (which was in the original credits to begin with). Still, it is one of the oddest editing mistakes ever made, next to an odd byline-less HB Swirling Star appearing on Johnny Bravo a while ago. As part of the 2012 re-launch of Klasky Csupo, the face was named "Splatt" and was given arms and legs the animation studio, and will star in his own webseries. Variants: Some games with the Rugrats license have a still logo which completely skips the face, and has a slightly bigger logo, with all of the boxes and letters in "KLaSKY" (except for the "Y") are medium gray and with the letters in "CSUPO" white, and which also adds "INC." (like in the first logo) to the right of "CSUPO". There was a different variant where the animation was somewhat worse (ex: the ink is still once it has splattered onto the screen, instead having a poorly done ripple effect, the eyes of the face are flipped vertically instead of being animated to look down/up). There is a black background instead of a static purple background (since the logo transitions from the blank screen at the end of the credits); the logo blurs and cuts to the KC logo rather than having black boxes cover it up (along with the the purple "Y" in "KLaSKY" zooming in over the regular "Y") and to top it all off, the face constantly looks at the viewer (it's actually staring at the blocks as in the standard logo, but the blocks are placed directly in the center of the screen, so it appears that the face is looking at the viewer) throughout it's screen time and smiles as if it accomplished something before the logo wipes to black. On the studio's reopening video, the variant is in full screen. FX/SFX: The "animated" paper-clippings that form the face, the static background, the ink, and the print logo. All CGI animation. Cheesy Factor: The face looks creepy, the CGI is cheap, and we hear random sound effects again. For the alternate variant, why were the ink and the face even more cheaply animated, and why exactly does the face constantly stare at the viewer and smile like it accomplished something? It's just disturbing. Music/Sounds: A "splattering" sound when the ink appears, and a bouncy "beeping" version of the 15-note bass jingle from the 1991 logo plays during the face's screen time. The company name is stated in a robotic voice (hence the "Robot" nickname. The voice was supplied by the "Boing" novelty voice in the the text-to-speech program on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X). After the company logo appears, we hear a couple of cartoon sound effects: a lip-flapping sound, a goose honking, and a boing sound. On The Rugrats Movie and the alternate variant, the music is in warp-speed as the logo fades to black. On Rocket Power, the last note of the end theme of said show trails off into the logo (meaning you hear a rock chord before the regular music plays). Some Rugrats episodes also had the last note of the end theme echoing into the logo. None for the video game variant. Music/Sounds Variant: Sometimes the music is in warp speed. On early television airings of Rugrats, the logo theme is low-pitched. On some recent airings of Rugrats, the boing sound is omitted. Availability: Was common in the past, but not so much anymore. It can be found on episodes such as those of later Rugrats seasons (not counting the 2002 and the final season, they used the previous logo and the next logo respectively, though current prints of these episodes have this logo) starting in 1999, Rocket Power, The Wild Thornberrys, As Told By Ginger, and on All Grown Up, the first two currently airing on Nicktoons, and the latter airing on Nickelodeon. The first use of this logo was in the rather obscure cartoon The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald. This logo was used on K-C films from The Rugrats Movie to Immigrants (which used this logo at the end; not counting Rugrats Go Wild!, which used the next logo below). It's also at the company's website too, from the introductory splash to the face saying the company's name can be found on the main page when first being browsed. The alternate variant is quite rare, as it only appears at the end of The Wild Thornberrys Movie, and the still variant appears on Rugrats: Royal Ransom for PS2 and GC and Rocket Power: Beach Bandits, also for PS2 and GC, among others. The alternate variant reappeared on the video of the studio's reopening. Recently appeared on Pysko Ferret. Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant: For the standard variant, it depends on how you feel about the logo. It can range from none to nightmare. The face looks like something right out of a nightmare, and the rest of the logo is random and disjointed. Children will probably find the logo nightmare-inducing (though some can find it funny), though adults might find it merely annoying. For the alternate variant, high to nightmare, the bad animation and the face looking at us and smiling as if it accomplished something is an even more unsettling sight. The black background and unexpected transition from the credits to the logo is also another reason why this variant is scary. It can be decreased to medium for those who expected this. None for the still variant, as it completely skips the face altogether, which makes it a LOT less scary. 3rd Logo (December 2002) Logo: On a black background with blue lines, we see the word "Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Present", followed by "A Klasky Csupo Production". FX/SFX: The motion of the blue stripes and the orange stuff. Music/Sounds: An orchestra with the musical notes (F#/Gb, C#/Db, G#/Ab). Availability: Rare. Seen on the 2002 film The Wild Thornberrys Movie. 4th Logo (June 13, 2003-2004, October 20, 2008-) Nicknames: "The Rooster", "Crazy Rooster", "The Collision of Pathé and Klasky-Csupo" Logo: On a green city skyline, we see a rooster's silhouette on one of the buildings (depending on the movie or show, the rooster will be either in the top-left corner of the screen, or the center). The sun rises, and the rooster wakes up and opens its eyes. It yells "WAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUP!!!" as the blocks in the K-C logo float around. When the rooster is finished screaming, the sun brightens, as the rooster mysteriously disappears, and the K-C logo appears in the center. It looks "grungier" than the one in the past two logos. FX/SFX: All CGI animation. Cheesy Factor: The CGI animation for the rooster seems a little tacky, and it is kinda hard to hear the rooster's yelling with the loud music blaring. Not to mention, if you look closely at the rooster's eyes, they seem to be recycled from the 2nd logo. Music/Sounds: A techno theme that appears to be yet another remix of the 1991 logo's music. The "Klasky-Csupo" computer vocal from the "SSF" logo is heard at the end. Availability: Rare. Seen on the 2003 film Rugrats Go Wild and the film Immigrants, which was released on October 20, 2008. Scare Factor: None to low. The rooster screaming, "WAAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUUUP!!" can startle unexpected viewers, otherwise just plain harmless and an improvement over the previous logo. This is perhaps K-C's best logo by far, even though the first one is more memorable. Category:Logos Category:Production Logos Category:Television production companies Category:1980s production logos Category:1990s production logos Category:2000s production logos Category:2010s production logos